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Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, before the Senate

U.S. Congress · 1868

The official published record of Johnson's 1868 impeachment trial, preserving the arguments and votes that led to his narrow acquittal.

This is the official record of Johnson's own impeachment trial, which he survived by a single Senate vote.

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Plain brown cloth-bound book cover with fine horizontal ribbing texture, faded and slightly mottled, with a darker spine edge along the left side. No title or text is visible.
Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, before the Senate, vol. 3, 1868. Library of Congress.

About this source

What it is

This is the official printed record of the 1868 impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson before the U.S. Senate, published by order of Congress. It is held by the Library of Congress.

Why it matters

The volume preserves the legal arguments, testimony, and final votes from the only presidential impeachment trial of the 19th century. Johnson was acquitted by a single vote, and this record shows how senators, lawyers, and the president's defenders debated the meaning of impeachment itself.

Look closer

  • Why might the distinction between removal from office and criminal punishment have mattered so much to the senators arguing the case?
  • What does the plain, unmarked cover of this volume suggest about how official government records were produced?
  • Whose voices are recorded here, and whose are missing?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Andrew Johnson on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Handwritten page 13 of the Articles of Impeachment against President Andrew Johnson, in cursive ink on lined paper. The text describes Johnson's speeches in Washington, D.C., in August 1866, including speeches made to crowds and his statements about Congress and the Union.Document

Primary source

Articles of Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

United States House of Representatives · March 1868

Handwritten manuscript page of the Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution, with the heading 'Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States' and the text of Section 1 of the 14th Amendment, including 'Article XIV.' Ruled border lines frame the text.Document

Primary source

14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights

United States Congress · 1868

Photo of a pink printed admission ticket from the U.S. Senate. Text reads 'Impeachment of the President, Admit the Bearer, Gallery, April 6th 1868, Geo. A. Brown, Sergeant at Arms.' A stub on the left reads 'To be taken up at Main Entrance, U.S. Senate, No. 176.'Document

Primary source

Admission Ticket to the Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson

United States Senate · 6 April 1868

Black and white head and shoulders studio portrait of a man with receding gray hair, dark suit jacket, white shirt, and bow tie, looking toward the viewer with a stern expression.Photograph

Primary source

Photograph of President Andrew Johnson

Mathew Benjamin Brady · c. 1870-1880

Engraving from Harper's Weekly titled Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum, Massacre of the Innocents at New Orleans. Left: a crowd of men in a gallery, with Andrew Johnson in a toga-like robe leaning near a pedestal marked REGO. Center: a bearded man leans on a ledge above a plumed helmeted figure. Right: an amphitheater filled with spectators watches a violent melee of soldiers and civilians below.Painting

Primary source

Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum – Massacre of the Innocents at New Orleans

Thomas Nast · 30 March 1867

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